Jack Crowther: Why I Want FAN to Succeed

The annual fund-raising campaign of the Fluoride Action Network, the organization leading the fight against fluoridation worldwide, is under way and will run to the end of December.

As it did last year, FAN is seeking to raise $250,000 to continue its work against fluoridation, using a small staff and many volunteers. I’m happy to support this effort and hope you will consider doing so too, in whatever amount you can afford.

Since attending the FAN convention near Washington, D.C., in 2017 with my wife, Sue, I’ve continued to work with FAN’s Advisory Committee, helping in a small way to plan ongoing campaign efforts. This has been both gratifying and humbling. Gratifying to participate in work so important with highly qualified and committed leaders. And humbling to witness the relentless, shoulders-to-the wheel determination of both staff and volunteers.

In nearly five years of anti-fluoridation work, I’ve appreciated FAN’s science-based and honest effort to prevail in a politically-charged debate. FAN’s integrity persists in the face of well-funded and cynical efforts to promote fluoridation. We face opponents who value public relations over science. They appeal to authorities who have impressive titles but are far removed from the moving edge of fluoride science.

It is discouraging to push a boulder uphill. But as I see it, the boulder is not rolling back on us. We are chocking that boulder it as we go, raising it ever higher toward our goal: an end to fluoridation.

FAN bulletins show our progress. Our and others’ lawsuit under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and continuing victories at the local level, keep us attuned and encouraged. I’m convinced that we, through science and common sense, will succeed. (Meanwhile I continue my own boulder-rolling in my home town of Rutland, Vt. I have faith that this effort, too, will succeed.)

Please consider a donation to FAN. It fights not only for your and my health and right to choose what we put in our bodies but for the very integrity of science.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays,

Jack CrowtherRutland, Vermont

**Jack Crowther is a retired journalist and corporate communications professional. He manages the website Rutlandfluorideaction.org, andis an active leader in the movement to end fluoridation in Vermont. He was an attendee and speaker at our 6th Citizens’ Conference on Fluoride in 2017.]